14 DAY TRIAL // PC gaming isn't at its best right about now, as more and more companies or organizations are emphasizing the high piracy rates and developers and publishers tend to ignore it, focusing instead on the consoles where this phenomenon hasn't made its presence felt very badly.
However, the PC is actually a huge opportunity, at least according to Capcom's vice president of strategic planning Christian Svensson, who talked with Rock Paper Shotgun about the platform. The company, which has recently entered the PC Gaming Alliance, a non-profit organization of hardware and software corporations that back up the PC in the fight against consoles, has expressed its beliefs in the old platform.
“Taking a very global view, we have brands that are very appealing, but the platform of choice in many countries is not a current-gen console,” Svensson said. “I’ll point to Russia, to Brazil, to emerging markets in the Middle East. The PC is global, and it’s ubiquitous. And quite frankly, the more people who shy away from that platform, the bigger the opportunity. It’s not easy, however. The PC has a lot of moving parts, there’s a lot more testing to be done, there’s a lot of considerations about how to even get to market. You need broad understanding. We know it’ll take a few years of development and investment before we’re where we want to be.”
He then felt obliged to explain some of the older PC ports of Capcom titles, which didn't excel in terms of quality and left a lot of gamers disappointed about the Japanese company. “People might remember Devil May Cry 3, Resident Evil 4, and Onimusha - these were projects that were outsourced, and run by our licensing team, rather than internal R&D. They were thrown over the wall to a developer, and the ports were quick and dirty, and even internally we’re not viewed favourably.”
But now things are changing and future titles will all be developed in-house by the same team, guaranteeing a great experience on any platform. It's very nice to hear developers recognize the importance that the PC still has in terms of gaming. It might be difficult to program for, but the advantages outweigh the risks, at least according to Capcom.